House Police Fatality and police profiling. April, mr. President , two questions, one energy and outside of the economy. Thank you, mr. President , last question i guess. [laughter] mr. President i need to find out from you. April ryan, how did the selfdescribed workingclass black girl from baltimore get to ask for u. S. Questions and get called out by everyone of them. I thought this was your life almost, a young april with bill clinton in 23 years later it makes you wonder, how do they get there, i was doing a lot of work, selling my seed when the harvest came up, i was out there working with American Radio Network recognized my work, they said look we may have a position open and i said okay and i thought it was for d. C. Bureau chief, they never told me it was the white house, mind you i had done local and washington and i anchored the weekends at w cop but never in my wildest dream what i imagine that i would be questioning for american president s and they called me by name, at least three. [laughter] but i didat the work and i stard out local. I came about 36 miles away south inside lets try this. Actually i do not want to stay when i first got here but i thought it would only stay for two or three years, i been here for 23 and i started out being a reporter and i realize coming in what power was washington power was having a president call your name. And the people who kept telling me that i needed to have a president call me by name with the widow of jack brown, she said how do get him to call you by name. My cousin who is married to former congressman ed town, i did not understand the concept, after while and after it started happening and i understood the concept of being a reporter where the president will call on by name, not just call them but by name, and made a difference. People will take note of you. In this was before 9 11, i time where we were into a president more so than we werepr now. Ill never forget one time he was Walking Around and walking to the hallways and he saw me came to the press area and he talked and everyone gives salutations, i said call me and call me by name, ill never forget then press secretary mike mccurry telling me, i think hes asking me why youre so hard on the issue of calling you by na name. And i said thats my name and when he calls on me i want him to call me by name. In the first time he did not call me by name at the second time it changed. It was asathdn press conference. January 10, 1977 he walked into the white house and you recount in the presidency in black and white that you are ready to leave after about three days. Why . It is a very different animal. In breeze and has a heartbeat to it its a whole different scenario there, its a hurry up and wait, its a push for information, its more than a desire its in need to get information and push information to the public be american or be the world, from the highest office in the land where i everything comes to war and peace and everything in between. It is a different type of beat, you hurry and wait and wait for that one person and you feed on every word they say and it never seen anything like it and never will again. The hill is a different beat, you run around looking for all types of congressional leaders, senators, speakers or congresspeople, but at the white house its about the principle, the one person in filtering out from there, most important the one person. One thing i will say, it was daunting, overwhelming, i was green, the one thing i will say, the president , i had to view him in the white house, this wonderful Historic Place at city hall for me too take it in in chunks. It was the most interesting place that i had ever seen. January 13 was actually my start and we have been talking about generally 13 was a day when i said okay, we are in here, everything was ready to go and we starteded moving. Do you have an office at the mowhite house . If thats what you calle . It. In my first book people could not believe it is a small phone booth, many of the young people dont understand what a phone booth is and we have to look at it as a phone booth in london. Its a size of a phone book may be to put together, claustrophobic modified. Thats what i call home at 1500 pennsylvania avenue. Back to the presidency in black and white, you write my appearance in the Briefing Room was a red flag for some folks . What do you mean . Back in 1997 it was graceful on the table, there were not a block or not above the fold in the newspaper, what the problem was in talking to bill clinton and all the president s that interviewed for this book, race has always been on the table. But the problem is, it does not always get asked about by the reporters. We are talking about china. It does not lead until it bleeds. I found in the white house, race was always dealt with at a crescendo moment and it was Trayvon Martin or Something Like that, i was asking issues of race beyond the christiane moment, issue here with an agenda, no, i was covering stories about america at the highest category that is undeserved and underreported on. So thats how i came to the white house people. Had oleary i and when they realized that some of these questions were real, this is not missed, this is not conjecture, this is real it is so interesting now looking back 23 years later my friend joy read said april ryan has made a race issue and popular. Its unfortunate that thats the case, black america, Brown America is the heart of america, why should there not be questions especially at the highest numbers of in on most every category. What is a you are in,. American radio network, we have been there for over 43 years. Ive been there 23 of the 40 years. We primarily serve urban america with news and information particular about them and and we are black media, black media is undergoing changes like everyone else. And i say when a Mainstream Media has a cold world lifesupport for that is the truth. As you have seen many times a ople going to the internet and trying to find out they will go to the internet before they come to us, we have an audience that is true and realizes that when others will not tell her story or ask about it, we will andsk thats what we do. It was december 2, 2009 read the Obama Administration i have to go back. [laughter] and read about this in your book, heres an exchange you had with press secretaryur robert. What your concern and the white house that she came out, somebody mightve called her the belle of the ball overshadowing the first lady. I have never heard that. Is been going around washington. Of again highranking people. Thats not affectation or living in life. Are you done speaking so i can. Oh yes sir. I have not heard the criticism, i am not read any of that criticism, the president , first lady in the entire white house staff are grateful for the job she does and thinks she has done a terrific and wonderful job pulling up a lot of big and important events at the white house. That the president and a by r or did the president . The social secretary was yet the dinner . April, down, take a deep breath. This happens when my son does the same thing. Dont play with me i am being serious. I am giving you a serious answer, was she at the dinner he yes, shes a socialou secretary. Im going to get back to your topics of 98000 men women in afghanistan. April ryan you are visibly uncomfortable watching that. Most definitely. Those moments and i guess ill see a lot of those moments will make me cringe, this is my life petepeter. Im going to say this to you, we had the first black president become president , history was made but there was also at that time a number of Death Threats from this president. And we all remember the story and if we dont, lets bring our viewers and listeners up to onspeed on this so there was ste dinner with the leader of india and he had had Death Threats as well in an assassination attempt just happened on him and we were talking about the state dinner and it was the first state dinner i believe in the social secretary at the time had not hefollowed protocol followed prr to other administrations. Mind you, i had been at the white house for two of ministrations prior to this. I had even been guest, president s were inviting the press to come in for dinners. So i made the protocol. What happened, the layer of protocol had been removed were the press office would be there in the secret service would be there to watch. In the meantime, as the protocol had been change, there was a reality show going on at the same time, housewives of washington, d. C. And i believe they were on the show and they thought it was cute for thewe reality show to crash the state dinner. Not only do they crash the state dinner but they got close to the president , Vice President , pictures of it. In my concern was not the tv show, not the theatrics of it, my concern as a reporter i am hearing from sources who are very close to the situation versus outside of the white house who were close to the situation versus other administrations saying they should have never happened because of the historic nature of the president and the Death Threats. So what robert gibbs was trying to do was show his loyalty to the press secretary who ultimately left. Desiree rogers who ultimately left the terms of that leaving, you could take it for what you want, it was not sense for what i understand and robert gibbs was trying to be loyal to her at the time. Lets fastforward from that room about a year or two later after i wrote my first book. Mind you that was tense, robert and i never really got over that at that time. But after i wrote my first book i saw him at a Major Tv Network in the green room andm i let hm see it any read word for word and he apologized to me and robert gibbs told me himself, he said april, i had to make you her. Crazy to support and i said, the social secretary says you didnt do her any favors, ive seen her since then and she still angry with me. I saw her once in new jersey, that the hotbed for me i guess. I saw her new jersey and i said roger gibbs was trying to be loyal to you, she said he was not be loyal to me and when robert apologized i said desiree said you are not be loyal and he said let me tell you something, she rolled up under the bus and stay there. The protocol was not followed, she was a social secretary who told me different than the other social secretaries nina part off the event, she was not watching the event, she had her own table and her own gas. The issue was the breach of security and the compromising of humans who are historic figures who had Death Threats. And thats the whole issue. Robert was trying to be loyal of the social secretary in the circle but the circle was broken and she left the terms of the leader, let them talk about that. But the issue was about historic nature of this president , the first walk president getting Death Threats and people off the streets being able to come in and get right there to him. So thats all that was. Since then i received an apology from robert gibbs and i talked to mitch rogers, she gave me her account of the event, it was ugly but at the end of the day, even that ethan, he apologized and it was ugly but because of that and because robert gibbs told me, i understood what the game was and how the game is played and even though that was ugly, it showed me without me knowing what was to come the game board. When he said april, calm down, what was your immediate thought . He was making aim personal. And he was waving his hands. And this is real not to wait this off because its a real situation. And my thought was dont wave me off, lets go down the line of questioning. Answer the question. And he made a personal because he did not want to breach the loyalty. But at b that moment i was angr. And i will never forget, i was not angry until after it happened. I felt something, when youre in the midst of as a reporter here still try to get the answer to the question. But at the end of the press conference, every press briefing everyone leaves and i state that seat for a while i was angry, ill never forget bill came out and he said april ryan, he wants to talk to his office and i said for what, i wasas very upset ani sat there for a minute insane for what he because he acted like a fool and i had some real questions that needed real answers. So i go up to the press office and he proceeded to tell me that i made a mockery of the process and i insulted the first lady, i said how did i insult the first lady, he brought everything from the kitchen sink to this conversation. But at the end of the day we agreed to disagree and he wanted an apology but he never apologized to meet until after he left the white house. Until after he saw what was in the book and told me what was the deal. And i knew what the m deal was t until he told me what the deal was it was confirmed and i heard from him and ms. Rogers and others but at the end of the day it was an ugly moment but it taught me something, it taught me a lesson and showed me the game, the game of politics. One of the chapters in your most recent book under fire is entitled becoming a story. Have you become the story in some cases . Oh my god too much so. And i dont like being the story, im the journalist who is still wideeyed about helping people, im the journalist who lookswi at politics and also los at humanity. It is about people, people who have adduce easement in their spirit who are still hurting and in need of help and now insteade relaying that now im the story, ive written books to talk about people and intertwined my story in. It. But if you read my books, the first two is mostly about others because i want to tell other people story, i dont want to talk about me because thats about the true reporter, the story not about me, you whisper in the background. But the unfortunate thing with the climate and i guess because i am that kid from baltimore who has tried to overcome odds because being from baltimore and i think about something the pastor walter scott thomas, Elijah Cummings pastor said baltimore has an automatic word in their life story, failure. They are from baltimore, the automatic failure, to overcome its about survival and baltimore. I am surviving and i am here and im trying not to be the story. So now i am trying to survive in washington and trying to survive in life and because of the twist and turns that i have taken recently, i am now the story. And being the story sometimes saves my life. If i dont tell the story, people would believe the negative and false narrative. And you have to tell it so people can see the truth and have receipts as young people say. If you read your books and tell me if im mistaken, if you read your books in order beginning with the presidency and black and white, at mamas knee and under fire, your personal opinion is coming out more and more in your books. Right, in the first book we talk about the presidency in black and white and my close view of four president s and we talk about the issue of reparation. In slavery apology, that was the beginning of my time in washington and its still 23 years later we hear president ial candidates talking about it. In the second book being a mother. And race and having it hit home in your backyard, its one thing, its crazy youre watching the news, ill never forget my youngest daughter when isis was rampant and they said mommy are they here, and i said no, youre fine but when the freddie great issue happening baltimore, i had to talk to them about that into mere rice and ive asked president s and people who dealha with this about these issues in the last book read him of the press and what ive gone through to make sure you undersd the mayor to in the smear that has been placed, i am not that person that you hear from on high that i am. We are going to go through all of those in the next hour and half. I know we are. Welcome to book tv in depth with author and White House Correspondent april ryan for the next hour and a half or so we will be taking your calls, getting reviews, there several ways for you to get through, first of all on the phonede lin, 202 7488200, if you live in the east and central time zone and have a question or comment for april ryan 202 7488201 and those of you in the mountain and pacific time zone, you can also text message to thiszo number 202 7488903. If you are going to text make sure you get the number correct, we also have social media sites and we will scroll through those, facebook, twitter that you can also make abo comment o, we will get to as many of those as possible. April ryan as she said has been at the white house as a White House Correspondent, longtime, the only black female with a permanent pass at wh the white house. Covering black issues gotta add that. She is the author of three books begetting with the presidency in black and white which came out in 2015 followed by at mamas knee and under fire came out in 2017 mostly about her time in the Trump Administration covering the Trump Administration and we will talk about all three of those. April ryan, again becoming part of the story but unintentionally lets go to october 6, 2003. Just a little bit of video. The president has agreed to take a couple of questions and so have i. We will start with the american side and alternate back and forth. Youre welcome to call on sunday from your pressroom mr. President. April youre not in this press corps youre trying to play like that. [laughter] what was that about. The worst thing you can do is be on cspan. You know the receipt you back up. I said in my book and talk about that. That was the most awkward moment and first of all, george w. Bush, i believe i had a decent work relationship with him but a also personally. And i was able towa talk to him about matters of race. And because we had enough of a working relationship i stood out like a sore thumb on the other side of the African Press. So that was a press conference. Did you put yourself i did not. His press office did in hopes i would get. So they made a mistake and ill never forget, did you really, it was off, they made a mistake and the president noticed it. He noticed there mistake, his people were trying to give him something and hes like whats going on. I remember mark smith and the Associated Press saying what are you doing over there. And i said they put me over here. Yes the last known slave in my family joseph brown, and i had no problem being considered african but im africa